Check out this beautiful gingerbread house.

The Food Network has officially cancelled Emeril Live.

Make these Maple Leaf Centerpieces for Your Thanksgiving Table

By Times Staff Writer
Published November 18, 2007

Macaroni and cheese is a popular dish on the Southern Thanksgiving table. It’s also a good take-along offering if you’re going to a potluck.

This year, why not toss the box and try one from scratch? Yankee Doodle Dandy Baked Macaroni and Cheese, from cookbook author and food writer Marlena Spieler, is packed with flavor, thanks to the addition of blue cheese.

There are other ways to serve cheese at Thanksgiving, including in a spread for early hors d’oeuvres. It’s best to make the cheese spread by Tuesday night to let the flavors meld.

Another good offering for the big feast is Harvest Squash and Cheddar Spoon Bread, which gets a head start from a boxed corn bread mix. Goat cheese and peppery arugula give mashed potatoes an unexpected kick.  

SIDE DISH
Harvest Squash and Cheddar Spoon Bread

2 medium butternut squash, halved and seeded
1 medium acorn squash, halved and seeded
Cooking spray
1/2 cup sour cream
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons brown sugar
11/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/8 teaspoon ground sage
1 (6-ounce) package corn bread mix
8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

- Place squash halves, cut sides down, on a large baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Remove from oven and let cool slightly.- Scoop pulp from squash and place in a colander. Allow liquid to drain from cooked squash (about 10 minutes).

- While squash drains, combine sour cream, eggs, brown sugar, salt, pepper, thyme and ground sage in a large bowl. Add cooled, drained squash. Mix on medium speed of an electric mixer until combined. Stir in dry corn bread mix and cheese.

- Coat a large casserole dish with cooking spray. Pour batter into dish. Bake at 425 degrees for 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 12 to 16 servings.
Source: Cabot Creamery—

3 cups (about 5 large) russet potatoes, peeled, quartered
1/4 cups butter
1 1/4 cups whole milk
5 ounces soft fresh goat cheese, crumbled
1 cup (packed) chopped arugula leaves (about 2 large bunches)
Salt and pepper to taste

- Cook potatoes in large pot of boiling, salted water until tender, about 30 minutes. Drain. Return potatoes to pot. Stir over low heat until excess moisture evaporates. Add butter; mash potatoes until smooth.

- Bring milk to simmer is saucepan. Remove from heat. Add goat cheese: whisk until melted.

- Add milk mixture to potatoes; whisk until smooth. Stir in arugula. Season with salt and pepper.

Serves 6 to 8.
Source: Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese

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APPETIZER
Garlic-Cheddar Spread

1 pound garlic cheddar cheese (see note)
1/2 pound cream cheese
2 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Salt and cayenne pepper to taste

- Grate garlic cheddar into bowl and mash cream cheese into it. Add minced garlic, lemon juice and sugar.

- Beat until smooth and fully blended. Add in salt and cayenne pepper to taste.

- Divide mixture into 4 equal parts and mold into uniform shapes. Wrap each separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate for two to three days to mature.

Note: If you can’t find garlic cheese, add two cloves of finely minced garlic to the mix.
Source: Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese

—

SIDE DISH
Yankee Doodle Baked Macaroni and Cheese

12 ounces large elbow macaroni, bow-tie pasta or shells
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons flour
3 cups hot, but not boiling, milk (low-fat is fine)
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon dry mustard
12 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (about 3 cups)
5 or 6 ounces mild white meltable cheese, such as Jack, Gouda or kasseri, shredded
4 to 5 ounces sharp blue cheese, crumbled
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped (optional)
1/2 to 2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese

- Cook pasta in a large pot of rapidly boiling salted water until not quite tender - just shy of al dente. Drain and set aside.

- Make the sauce: Melt butter in a heavy nonstick saucepan and sprinkle with flour. Cook for a minute or two, then stir with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat and add milk all at once, along with bay leaf. Cook, stirring, over medium-high heat until sauce thickens, about 5 to 7 minutes. If there are any lumps, remove bay leaf and whisk with a wire whisk or whirl in the food processor. Remove from heat and season with salt, pepper, paprika and dry mustard.

- Reserve 5 to 6 tablespoons of the sharp cheddar and mild white cheeses. Remove bay leaf from the bechamel if you haven’t already, then stir in remaining cheddar, mild white cheese and blue cheese.

- In the bottom of a 11/2-quart baking dish with 4-inch sides, sprinkle 1 or 2 tablespoons of the reserved cheeses. Add onion and garlic to cheese sauce.

- Layer 1/3 of macaroni in bottom of the dish, top with a third of the cheese sauce, and repeat the layers two more times, ending with the cheese sauce. Sprinkle with remaining shredded cheeses, then with the Parmesan cheese. Bake in a preheated 375-degree oven 20 to 25 minutes, or until cheese is melted and slightly browned in spots.

Makes 5 to 6 servings.
Source: Macaroni & Cheese by Marlena Spieler (Chronicle Books, 2005)

[Last modified November 15, 2007, 10:43:53]

November 8th, 2007

By Deven Black, Jill Rovitzky Black and Judith Hausman
Gannett News Service

Shopping for a Thanksgiving turkey can be daunting. Sometimes the labels can be as confusing as an income tax return. To set you straight, we’re providing a glossary, so you’ll have the skinny on your turkey, no matter how plump a bird you buy.

Heritage

Heritage turkeys are the feathered equivalents of heirloom vegetables. To turkey breeders they’re “standard breeds” — old-school turkeys that look, live and, most important, taste the way turkeys used to. To buy one of these tasty throwbacks, try www. localharvest.org/store, a cooperative venture of farm markets. Enter “heritage turkey” in the search box and a variety of producers will come up. Some offer only on-site pickup but others ship either frozen or seriously chilled birds. Prices can run as high as $10 a pound. heritage turkeys are also available at www.igourmet.com

Pasture-raised

The name says it all: Pasture-raised turkeys roam around outside and eat primarily grass, so their food and activity level — both of which affect flavor — differ from those of their grain-fed cousins raised in confinement. Pasture-raised turkeys are also likely to be heritage breeds; the factory farm birds are so heavy of breast and short of leg that they can’t thrive out in the open. According to traditional-cooking authority William Rubel, heritage turkeys “have more intrinsic flavor, and if they have been raised on pasture, then their flesh will be as fully flavored as it can be OrganicAccording to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to be called organic, a turkey has to be raised on organic feed: grain- or grass-fed without the use of genetic engineering methods, ionizing radiation or sewage sludge for fertilization. And the birds cannot be given hormones or antibiotics. Many breeders who produce pasture-raised, heritage breeds do so organically. The growing popularity of organic foods means that you’ll also find organic birds at Whole Foods Markets and other high-end, health-food-oriented retailers or similar specialty stores. www.igourmet.com KosherTo qualify as a kosher turkey, the bird must be healthy at the time of slaughter and must be killed in a specific manner intended to minimize pain, under supervision of a rabbi trained in ancient Jewish dietary laws. All the blood has to be removed from the slaughtered bird, first by draining, then by a process of soaking and salting. The net effect of all that salt and water is equivalent to brining the bird, an effective although sometimes unwieldy way to enhance the flavor and juiciness of a turkey. That’s why in the supermarket arena, kosher poultry often trumps standard brands in taste tests, and why many non-Jews and non-observant Jews will buy kosher turkeys and chickens. Frozen kosher turkeys are available in most major supermarkets. Fresh birds can be ordered from kosher butchers or specialty kosher markets.Free-range